


Standing On His Head

by tillyenna



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Mistranslations, Misunderstandings, Pointless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23734264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tillyenna/pseuds/tillyenna
Summary: Igor overhears some of his wolfpack teammates talking about a good goaltender who 'stands on his head' every night. He doesn't realise it's just a phrase.No, I don't know why I wrote this.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	Standing On His Head

Normally, Igor doesn’t listen to the chatter in the locker room, but that had been his assignment today from his English lessons – to try and understand a conversation that wasn’t directed at him, that wasn’t slowed down and simplified for him. He’d decided to do it in the locker room, because hockey talk helps – he knows more of the vocabulary.

“He’s incredible, the number of shut-outs man, it’s like he’s a brick wall.”

That much he got, they must be talking about a goal tender, like him, he’s heard the phrase ‘brick wall’ to talk about netminders before, and obviously shut-outs is a big clue.

“He stands on his head every fucking game man.”

That one takes a little longer, standing on his head? He knows what his head is, standing is waiting around, he grabs out his phone and googles it quickly, “Standing on head.”

A few pictures come up, people doing headstands, he knows what they are. He hadn’t called them that of course, translation is weird sometimes. He’d never seen a goalie doing it as part of their exercises, but perhaps it was something taught here in America, not in Russia.

He switches his phone back to Cyrillic, it’s easier to find what he wants, and starts googling about the athletic merits of doing a headstand – as he reads it, he understands precisely why it’s a good exercise for a netminder to do, it’s good for core strength, but also good for co-ordination.

That night, as he’s in his apartment, he decides to give it a try. It’s harder than he initially thought, but he gets the hang of it quickly. Then he decides to grab one of his ball-hockey balls, and start bouncing it off the opposite wall. It’s hard, doing it turned upside down, but it helps him focus his mind.

It isn’t long before it becomes part of his pre-game routine, finding a quiet bit of corridor, standing on his head against one wall, and bouncing the ball of the opposite wall, trying to catch it as it comes back. Nobody says anything, goalies are weird after all.

Nobody says anything that is, until he gets called up.

Madison Square Gardens is nothing short of terrifying. It’s less like a hockey game and more like a show, the lights and the sounds are like no arena he’s ever been in before. Playing down at Hartford had been good for getting him used to the size of the rink, but nothing could have prepared him for this. Still, he manages to find himself a quiet space, just around the corner from the locker room, and stands on his head, bouncing the ball off the opposite wall.

It helps him centre himself, it helps him focus – it’s hard enough to concentrate on being upside down, the added distraction of trying to catch the ball whilst not losing his balance makes it even harder, so his world smalls until it’s just him and the ball. He never does it for long, and when the pressure in his head from being upside down gets too much, he rights himself, pulling his t-shirt back into place. He looks up, to see half of his new teammates staring at him.

“I’ve never actually seen a goalie who literally stands on his head.” Marc Staal is staring at him in amazement.

“I always thought it was just an expression.” Mika shakes his head. “Crazy goalies.”

Igor blushes, shrugs, “Is good for,” he taps the side of his head, not being able to call the word he wants in English.

“Well then,” Marc reaches out and ruffles his hair affectionately, “Lets see if it works.”

By the time he’s dressed for the game, the entire team knows, and as he walks out towards the ice, he bumps into Sasha, dressed in his suit.

“You realise it’s just a saying that they have here.” The other netminder rolls his eyes at him disparagingly.

Igor shrugs, “We’ll see.” Is all he says, ignoring the way that Sasha tries to get under his skin.

It’s not a shutout, that would be too much to hope for on his NHL debut, but he only lets in 3 goals out of the 32 the Avs send against him, and they win. He feels like he’s flying when Henrik skates up to him and knocks their helmets together softly. “You really do stand on your head huh?”


End file.
